MELBA’S LETTERS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 52, 1 February 1932, Page 9

MELBA’S LETTERS.

WHEN STUDYING UNDER MARCHESI. The trustees of the Mitchell Library, Sydney, have acquired manuscripts or historical value—a bundle of letters written by the late Dame Nellie Melba, when she was Mrs Nellie Armstrong. ' The letters were sent from Paris nearly half a century, ago—be-t-ween 1885 and 1887—just as the famous Australian singer was about to enter upon her outstanding career, which was to bring her international fame. The trustees deem themselves fortunate in obtaining for posterity such intimate glimpses of the great singer’s early life, says the Sydney Morning Herald. In a letter dated March 29, 1887, Melba Mrs Armstrong) wrote from Paris: “I am studying under Madame Marchesi, who is without exception the best teacher in the world. She has 70 pupils of all nationalities, and I am far (underlined) above them all. I finish with her in October, when I make my debut in opera (this is a secret). I am engaged for five years to travel all over the world .bv Mr Maurice Strakosch, who was the inipressario of Patti and Neillson and who says I will have as great success as Patti; in fact, he says I will take her place. . . .All the people in Paris rave about me. . . Last Fri-' day I sang for the Italians who lost everything by the recent earthquakes, and I had the greatest success. I was recalled four times and the ladies waved their handkerchiefs and the men called out ‘bis’ and. ‘bravo’ till I was nearly deaf. Marchesi said afterwards: ‘They treated you as if you were a queen.’ ” An extract from a letter written from Paris five months later (August, 1887) is as follows: —“Everyone tells me my voice is pure gold, and that I vocalise it perfectly. Marchesi tells me she has never had such a pupil. . ... I am making my debut in October in Brussels ih ‘Rigoletto.’ I sang five operas in Italian and five in French. . . . My little son has grown such a darling, and speaks French perfectly.”